Just a child
by josie hardy
Summary: Epilogue added Sat 2. First fanfic, pls be nice!
1. Two murders?

**Disclaimer; I don't own any of the CSI characters or the cool stuff they do and have that I can't possibly describe as well as it looks on screen. Though if someone offered me Flack (or Danny, for that matter) I wouldn't say no :D**

**A/N: my plot bunny ran away 'cos this story was supposed to be a crossover with something else and I changed it. A CSI story is challenging enough, lol. I hope I do it justice!**

**Warning; not really focused on any particular pairing, but there might be some Danny/Lindsay and Flack/Stella friendship. Maybe some Mac/Stella later - what do you think? ;)**

* * *

The ten year old had always thought she had become immune to fear. After seeing the things she had seen, and learning the things she knew, it seemed that nothing could affect her. She was numb. Her care and concern for others was useless; she couldn't do anything for them when they really needed her help.

But now, having been sent away from the house by her father so he could talk to his 'friends' and wandering the dark streets of New York, the unusual feeling of fear was inside her. The bright lights, the heavy traffic, the shouting and general confusion of noise in the air unsettled her. She was used to more quieter places, like the small town she had been born in. Big cities were strange and frightening to her. And being in the one city that had a reputation for being one of the most dangerous, alone, didn't help.

She absently wandered into Central Park, which was deserted at this time of night, and sat down on a bench. She had a lot of time to spare, and absolutely no idea what to do with it. Except prepare. Prepare for what would be waiting for her when she went back home.

She had almost fallen asleep when a strange noise made her sit up again. She looked around, squinting into the darkness for some idea of what had disturbed her. She froze; there was a dark figure no more than five feet away dragging what looked like a body along the ground.

He let go of the body and looked up, and straight at her.

That was enough. The girl stood and ran, propelling herself faster as she heard him chasing after her, only one thought on her mind; she had to lead him back to her father.

* * *

The brown, curly haired CSI stood over the body sadly. The dead woman was no more than 23 years old, and had been brutally murdered; cuts and bruises on her face and arms showed that she had been beated badly, her clothes were torn and bloody and there was a gunshot wound on her chest. _What could such an innocent looking girl with her whole life ahead of her have done to deserve this? _she wondered, kneeling down to check her pockets for ID.

'Stella,' her partner greeted as he joined her, his mouth set in a grim line as he set down his metal CSI case and knelt beside her.

'Marcy Williams, 22, a student at NYU,' the woman read out, focusing her flashlight on the identity card she had found. 'How does a college student end up dead?'

'A married student,' Mac observed, noticing the ring on her finger. 'An abusive husband?'

'Wouldn't be the first time.'

'Hey,' Flack greeted, coming up behind them as they started processing, 'don't know who found her, the PD just got an anonymous call saying there was a body here. And guess what?'

Mac and Stella looked up at him. 'No witnesses.'

The detective nodded. 'Don't you just love this city? A girl gets killed at one of the busiest times of the night in a public place, and not one person sees it.'

'Not exactly,' Stella corrected, shining her flashlight along the ground away from the body. The ground had been disturbed, and some leaves and twigs had been broken. 'She was dragged here.'

'I'll send some uniforms to the house,' Flack announced, 'got a name?'

Stella handed him the ID card. 'Lives on campus. See if she has a roomate.'

'Telling me how to do my job, Bonasera?' Flack teased, his blue eyes twinkling playfully.

'You want me to hold your hand?' the woman teased back, ignoring Mac rolling his eyes next to her, 'I know how scared you are of the dark.'

He held up the card, 'I'll see what I can find.'

* * *

Lindsay and Danny had been called to a scene only a few streets away where people had reported hearing a gunshot.

'She's just a kid,' Lindsay breathed as she knelt down next to the victim.

'Yeah well, you're in New York now, Montana,' Danny reminded her, 'these things happen. He might not even have been aiming for her,' he remarked, looking around as if he expected to see the intended victim. 'What you doing?' he asked as his partner suddenly reached for the girl's throat to feel for a pulse.

Doe brown eyes looked up at him. 'She's alive.'

'What?' he asked incredulously, checking for himself. 'Get a medic out here!' he yelled.

He looked back to see Lindsay's relieved smile. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the kid had lost a lot of blood and might not make it to the hospital - she was too happy that she wasn't dead yet.

* * *

**A/N: this is my first attempt at a CSI fanfic, so any feedback is appreciated :-D please be kind!**

**It might not make a lot of sense now, but it gets better later on, I promise :P**


	2. Suspects, evidence and theories

**A/N: wow, three reviews for one chapter. I just hope I can keep writing well enough to keep that up :P Thanx guys!**

**FYI: I'm watching reruns of the first season at the same time as the beginning of the second season, so Lindsay is in the story - I've got nothing against Aiden - but Hawkes is still an ME. I haven't got used to that change yet. Hope that doesn't confuse anyone :D**

**oh, and btw, I like Flack really. It's a known fact that writers like to mess around with their favourite characters.**

* * *

'What's so funny?' Mac asked as they stepped aside to allow the body to be taken away.

Stella grinned. 'Marcy lives in a sorority house. Flack's gonna have fun.' She sighed, 'if only I could be there to see his face.'

Mac stared at her. 'Where did this evil streak come from?' he asked, smiling in spite of himself.

* * *

_Stella is dead, _Flack thought to himself as he walked down the corridor towards Marcy's dorm room. Despite the late hour, many of the girls were awake; more specifically, standing in their doorways watching him as he went past, flirtatious grins on their faces that showed their approval of his 6'2" frame, dark hair and blue eyes.

He finally reached room 105 and knocked on the door, trying to ignore the girls watching him.

The door swung open and a tired-looking blonde with messy hair wearing a pair of shorts and a university sweatshirt looked at him.

'Miss Philips?' he asked, holding up his badge as she nodded. 'NYPD. I need to ask you a few questions.'

She held open the door for him to come inside, and looked at him worriedly as she closed it behind him. 'Did something happen? Is Marcy in some kind of trouble?'

'Marcy's dead,' he told her carefully, watching her reaction, 'she was murdered.'

The girl's eyes widened as she sat on the rumpled bed heavily, shaking her head. 'D-dead? Are you sure?'

'I'm sorry. I need to ask you a few things.' He said hesitantly, not wanting to push her as she seemed to be genuinely devastated.

The girl nodded.

'Do you have a number where I can reach her parents?'

She rattled off a series of numbers, 'their names are Charles and Susan,' she added.

'Okay. What about her husband?'

The girl's head shot up, looking confused. 'Husband?' she echoed.

'There was a wedding ring on her finger…'

Philips shook her head. 'I don't know anything about that. I don't actually know her very well – she has a busy schedule and she's involved in a lot of extra curricular activities – by the time she'd get here, I'm usually asleep.'

'When was the last time you saw her?'

'This morning. She was on the phone making an appointment to see someone. She seemed really excited about something.'

'Do you know who she was talking to? What time was the appointment?'

In answer she gestured across the room to the pad next to the telephone. 'She might have written it down. She never said anything to me – just said goodbye and went to class.'

The detective put the pad into an evidence bag, which he pocketed, and looked up. 'Do you know any of her friend's names? I'd like to talk to them.'

Philips shrugged. 'The only people she ever mentioned were Alyssa Daniels and Josh…something. I'm not sure if she's student here.'

Flack nodded as he noted it down. 'Thank you. I might need to talk to you again, and if you remember anything, call me.' He told her, handing her a card.

She glanced at the card.'Flack. Sure.'

* * *

'So she was killed somewhere else and dragged down here,' Mac remarked as they examined the area more closely.

'The killer could have just left her where she was.' Stella continued, 'But why go through all the trouble to bring her here?' she wondered aloud.

'And if she wasn't killed at the place where she was dragged from, why does the trail start here?' Mac added, looking around to check for tire tracks. There were none.

'Maybe she was still walking – or running,' the woman suggested, 'that was as far as she got.'

Mac nodded. 'He beats her up, intending to kill her, but she gets away and runs into the park – that was where he caught up with her. But that still doesn't explain why he dragged her here.'

'Trying to hide the body?' Stella suggested, 'there are a lot of trees here – it would have been harder for someone to see the body than if he left it out in the open like that.'

'The longer it takes for someone to find the body, the more time he has to get away.' He sighed, 'we're not going to find anything else tonight. Make sure the area's taped off and we'll come back to check again in the morning.'

* * *

'What's up doc?' Stella asked, walking into the medical examiner's office, where Hawkes was working on Marcy. 'Go on, make my night. Tell me she drowned.'

Hawkes looked at her with an amused smiled on his face. 'How come you're in such a good mood?'

The woman grinned slyly, raising her eyebrows.

Hawkes shook his head. 'She didn't drown, as I'm sure you already knew.'

'I never know what you're going to come up with.'

'She died from a severe beating and the shot,' the doctor began, 'it was the bullet that was fatal – shot at close range and it went through some of her vital organs. A through and through – she died instantly.'

'So we need to look for the bullet,' Stella noted, biting her lip. 'Okay.'

'The beating – no weapon was used, just some powerful punches,' he continued, indicating the dark bruises on her face and moving the sheet to reveal part of her arm. 'No signs of her trying to defend herself,' he added, lifting up her hand to show her perfectly manicured nails. 'But there are ligature marks on her wrists,' he demonstrated, showing her the burns.

'Looks like rope,' Stella remarked. 'Here's how this fits our theory,' she explained, 'the killer tied her up and beat her. She managed to escape and ran away – he chased her into the park, where he shot her and dragged her into the trees where she wouldn't be found.'

Hawkes nodded in agreement.

'Anything else?'

'I sent for a rape kit and her clothes are up in the lab,' he told her, pulling the victim's long dark hair back and carefully combing through it to remove the leaves and twigs that had been caught in it. 'Oh, and something that's probably irrelevant,' he gently pulled open her eye and shone a light on it.

'She wears contact lenses. Maybe you should find out what the problem was. You never know.' Stella joked, giving him a friendly slap on the back, 'thanks doc.' _I wonder if Flack managed to escape yet._

He knew she wasn't being serious, but that didn't stop him from carefully removing the lenses for later testing.

_

* * *

_

Danny shook his head resignedly as Lindsay gave the receptionist at the hospital her number, asking them to call her and let her know if the child, who had been rushed into surgery, was going to be okay.

'What?' she asked as they walked out.

'You really like kids don't you, Montana?'

'Don't you even care if she gets out okay?' Lindsay spat out, beginning to get defensive, 'she was almost killed.'

'For all we know she could have brought it on herself.'

'She's ten!' Lindsay exclaimed in horror, 'are you that suspicious of everyone? Or do you just have no trust in the human race?'

'I'm just saying, we don't know the circumstances. Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to, maybe she got shot instead of somebody else and maybe – just maybe – she was mixed up in something and got in over her head.' Danny stopped walking and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders and speaking in a level tone to try and calm his furious partner down. 'Okay?'

Lindsay took a deep settling breath. She nodded. 'Flack and his partner will just have to find out.'

'Yeah, where is Flack anyway? I expected him to come out to the scene,'

'Maybe he went with Mac and Stella. They got sent out just before us.'

* * *

Flack was still at the sorority house, tracking down Alyssa, who had been about to make her own call to the police station to tell them about Marcy's absence.

'She told me to call the police if she wasn't home by one o'clock,' the teary eyed redhead told him as she accepted the tissue he held out. 'I tried to ask her if she was in some kind of trouble, to help her, but she wouldn't tell me anything. Just that she had to go see…him.'

'Any idea who that is?' the detective asked.

The girl shook her head.

'Was it a friend?' he asked, thinking about the appointment her roommate said she had made. 'Her husband?' he hazarded, wondering if even her best friend knew she was married.

'She doesn't have a husband... I don't know. She got a call when we were walking back here after class and she just said she had to go and meet him. She seemed kind of upset while she was talking to him,' she added.

Flack nodded. Not the same person. 'Do you know Josh?'

'I met him a couple of times. He's a friend of Marcy's. An older guy.'

'So he's not a student. A teacher?'

'No. I think he said he was between jobs.'

'Do you think you could describe him to a sketch artist?'

The girl looked up, her eyes wide. 'You don't think he killed her?'

* * *

**A/N: maybe he did, maybe he didn't. You'll just have to keep reading to find out, wont you? (laughs evilly) **

**Let me know what you think! **


	3. Progress

**A/N: no, I haven't given up on this story. Circumstances beyond my control stopped me from updating. Including the fact that after the first chapter, it gets harder :P Anyway, it shouldn't take so long between updates again, and here's the next chapter! I hope you're still enjoying it!**

* * *

'We're very sorry for your loss,' Stella said to the distraught parents of Marcy Williams, taking them into the morgue where Hawkes was waiting for them.

Stella nodded, and Hawkes pulled the sheet down from the girl's face. She had to hand it to him; he had done a good job of covering the bruises so that the parents wouldn't have to see the condition she was in. The tears that Susan had valiantly been dabbing away from her eyes suddenly fell down her cheeks, unchecked, as her husband nodded in confirmation.

'I'm sorry,' Hawkes repeated, as Stella gently guided them out of the room.

'I just need to ask you a few questions,' she told them reluctantly, seeing how upset they were.

* * *

Mac looked at them, his face stern and his mouth pulled into a thin line, as it usually did when he didn't like what he was hearing. What he was listening to were Lindsay and Danny asking to continue the case of the little girl. Or more specifically, Lindsay's arguments.

'I'm sorry Lindsay, but she didn't die,' he repeated, 'it's not our case anymore. It's attempted murder – maybe – which the police deal with. I can ask Flack to keep you updated, but that's the best I can do.' he added with a note of finality, warning her with his voice to back off.

'Why don't you work with Flack then?' Danny remarked sarcastically, who was sitting in the chair opposite Mac, his arms folded and offering his partner no support.

Lindsay scowled at him, but her phone rang before she could start again.

'That was the doctor,' she announced to no one in particular, 'she's out of surgery, and she'll be fine in a couple of days.'

'Good, so can we finish with this thing already?' Danny pleaded, halfway out the door before Mac spoke again, sounding impressed.

'You asked the doctor to call you?'

Lindsay nodded. 'We had her taken to the hospital, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.'

Mac looked from her to Danny, and back to her. He nodded. 'Why don't you work on this case until I need you somewhere else?' he suggested. He looked back at Danny as he addressed them both. 'It's for you two to decide whether you work together or not, but you're not working alone. Partner up with Flack if you need to.'

'I will,' Lindsay promised, 'thanks Mac.'

Stella came in, smiling at them as they left, and took the seat Danny had vacated. She proceeded to stare at him in silence.

Mac returned her gaze, waiting for her to speak.

'Stop that!' he exclaimed at last, 'what is it?'

Stella smiled. 'Didn't you tell your parents when you and Claire got married?'

'That's random,' Mac remarked. 'Of course.'

'Well, I just had a very interesting conversation with Marcy's parents. It turns out their little angel, who they talk to at least once a week, neglected to mention marriage. And apparently, she's changed.'

'Changed how?'

'When she went to college she was a happy, normal girl, always friendly and outgoing. About a year after she left home, she became more distant. She still spoke to them, called them, wrote letters, told them about her good progress at school, but her attitude changed. They said she started sounding more timid and afraid, as if something had happened to her.'

'This is New York,' her partner said, 'those things happen, unfortunately. Depression?'

'I think it's pretty obvious she didn't commit suicide. Possibly.'

Mac nodded, staring at the desktop as he thought about something. Stella waited patiently, having learnt it was best to wait.

'The kid wasn't far from the park,' he murmured, half to himself, remembering what Lindsay and Danny had told him about their case. 'Maybe she saw the killer.'

'You lost me at 'the kid,' Stella told him, 'why dont you ask her?'

'I'll tell Lindsay,' he agreed, picking up the phone.

'Hi,' Flack came into the office at that moment, and took advantage of Mac being on the phone to glare at Stella, who smiled innocently.

'Have fun?' she asked.

'Very funny,' he retorted, pulling out the notepad he had taken from the sorrority, 'the roomate said Marcy might have written down an appointment on that.' he explained.

'Okay, I'll check it out,' she said, waving to Mac as she got up.

'So, what did you find?' Mac asked, hanging up a few seconds later.

'Not much,' the detective admitted, 'I spoke to the roommate and her friend – she's downstairs with a sketch artist. Neither of them knew anything about her being married, so I cant find him, obviously. She made a phone call this morning to make an appointment with someone,' he continued, 'and her friend said she got a call earlier this evening to go and meet someone.'

'She doesn't know who,' Mac surmised.

'No. She said Marcy looked upset about it though, and took off in a hurry.'

'Could the two calls have been the same person? She makes the appointment in the morning, and forgets about it, so they call her to tell her to come.'

Flack shook his head. 'I don't think so. When she was making the appointment, she was excited. When she got the second call, she was scared about something. Scared enough to tell her friend to call the police if she didn't come back.'

'Which she didn't. Okay, let's see if we can find this husband.' he announced as he got up.

'Right. I'll go see if the sketch artist has come up with anything.'

* * *

'Were you serious?' Lindsay asked as she and Danny went to their lockers and started getting changed into street clothes.

'About what?'

'You'd prefer I worked with the police if I'm going to carry on with this. Are you really that uninterested?'

Danny shrugged, pulling off his jacket and stowing it away. 'The doctor might have the bullet,' he remarked, 'we need to ask him for it.'

'You didn't answer my question.'

He finally stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. 'I guess I'm just not as enthusiastic about it as you. Of course I'll still work with you – we're partners, aren't we?'

Lindsay smiled. 'Thanks Danny.'

He smiled back. 'Anytime, Montana.'

She didn't bother to correct him. It was kind of cute how he had a special nickname for her.

She looked at her cell phone as it started ringing again.

'Mac,' she told her partner, 'he thinks our cases might have been connected, and maybe she saw the killer.'

'And he chased her and shot at her,' Danny added, 'you know what? I think I do prefer that explanation.' he teased, with a playful twinkle in his eye.

'Starting to feel that old faith in the human race coming back?'

* * *

Flack let Alyssa leave, and waited for the artist to show him what she had come up with.

'Thank you,' he said as the other man left. He looked at the picture, and frowned. 'I know this guy.'

The sandy haired, clean shaven man in his mid-thirties had worked as a private investigator for several years in another town. When his agency had had to close down, he had applied to the New York police force, where he had been for a couple of months. _Let's hope he is just a friend, _Flack thought to himself, having met the detective and liked him. _Maybe he's still at the station._

* * *

'The top page was torn off, but she did write something,' Stella started explaining before Mac even had the chance to ask. She looked away from the telescope and smiled at his surprised look. 'What else would you have said?'

'It's two o'clock. I could have been coming to tell you to leave it till morning.'

She glanced at the brown envelope he was holding. 'And I suppose you were going to leave that ring until morning?' she asked, raising her eyebrows.

He looked down, and shrugged. 'You got me. I was going to check it for fingerprints.'

'Tell you what,' Stella suggested, 'you do your thing, I'll do my thing, and we'll talk.'

* * *

An hour later, she was waiting outside his office for him to turn off the lights and lock the door.

'It was a doctor's appointment,' she told him as they walked down the hall, 'I doubt if he'll be in his office at this hour though,' she remarked, 'unless nine till five now means nine p.m.'

'We'll have to wait for that then. So, what kind of doctor was it?' he enquired.

'Gynecologist.'

'Maybe she really was depressed then,' he joked.

'You're so naive, Mac Taylor.'

* * *

'Detective Flack,' Josh Connelly greeted when the detective appeared at his office door, 'what can I do you for?'

'Do you know a girl called Marcy Williams?' Flack askd, notbothering with niceties.

Grey eyes narrowed. 'Did something happen to her?'

Flack nodded. 'She's dead,' he told him bluntly.

'What about Alyssa and Jennifer?'

'Jennifer Philips? They're fine. Why? Are they in danger?'

Josh nodded, looking worried. 'They could be.'

'Connelly, this is a murder case.' Flack told him, 'If you know anything, we need to hear it.'

Josh sighed. 'I just need to make a call first. Sit down.' He told him, vaguely gesturing to the chair.

* * *

**A/N: hope I didn't disappoint. This chapter was kind of hard to write, so I'd appreciate feedback:)**

**btw, I just saw this story's in a c2. I always thought the author did that... anw, that's cool :D**

**I like reviews! HINT HINT**


	4. Cases and Flirting

**A/N: yeah, so I'm not so good at naming chapters, and this one is kinda lame, but I just don't like having 'chapter one', 'chapter two', 'chapter sixty four' lol. It's not going to be that long.**

**

* * *

**

Mac walked into the apartment building, up to the fourth floor, and along the hall to the apartment he knew so well. Before he could raise his hand to knock, however, the door swung open and Stella stood there, grinning at him.

'Mac! What a surprise!' she greeted, making way for him to come inside.

The man looked at her messy hair and the tank top and short shorts she was wearing.

'New look?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She looked down, impatiently flicking back a stubborn lock of hair. 'I said I knew you were coming, not that I'd be ready. Give me ten minutes.' She added, disappearing into the bathroom.

'So, what's the plan?' she called as he sat down, looking round the tidy apartment. He knew how meticulous and tidy she was at the lab, but that rarely followed anyone home – his own house often looked like a tornado had hit it, and he was amazed that everything always seemed to be in its place here.

'I'll go to the lab and get started on the clothes, and you can go talk to the doctor.' He suggested, grimacing as he waited for the argument he knew was coming.

It didn't take long. Stella came out to stand in front of him, now dressed in a blouse and pants but still barefoot, pulling a brush through her hair.

'What if I wanted the clothes?' she asked.

'I just thought, the doctor deals with women, she'd probably be more likely to talk to you.' Mac explained, watching her try to pull her bushy hair into some kind of order. _How does she put up with that hair? _

'That sounds sexist,' the woman accused, narrowing her eyes at him. 'Is there something you want to tell me, Mr Taylor?' she asked, a hint of a smile on her face that gave away her teasing.

'I'm not being sexist. I'm being respectful.'

'Sure,' she scoffed, turning away to hunt for a pair of heels.

* * *

Lindsay smiled as Danny reached for his third cup of coffee.

'Not a morning person, are we?'

Dark blue eyes gave her a dirty look. 'Just because you're used to getting up at the crack of dawn down on the farm doesn't mean everyone can, Montana.'

'I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.'

'You do that. It's eight thirty!' he whined suddenly, 'I'm supposed to be slowly driving to the lab, waiting for my brain to wake up. Why are you dragging me to the hospital so early? I don't even like those places!'

'Do you want to finish this case or not?'

He looked at her. 'You're still scared of Mac, aren't you?'

'No!' she answered a little too quickly. And a little too defensively.

'Mac's harmless,' Danny told her with a smile, 'the only time you need to worry about getting your head bitten off is when he's working on a tough case or he's in a bad mood. And if you take too long getting lab results back to him. A guy can only be so patient.'

'Is that a fact, Messer?' Lindsay asked softly, with a seductive smile.

He looked up, and saw her playing with her straw, twirling it round her fingers and biting it playfully.

He nodded. 'It's a fact, Montana. I don't know how much more patient I can be.'

'I don't think we're talking about Mac anymore.'

* * *

Don Flack woke up and went through his morning routine almost mechanically, his mind still on his conversation with Josh the night before.

The detective's answer had turned into a long and complex explanation of a private case he had been working on. He had been trying to catch the ringleader of a well organized gang, Dirk Mason, with the help of the criminal's own daughter. Working undercover, he had made friends with Marcy without telling her he was a cop and gained her trust in an effort to protect her, since she was a potential victim. He hadn't been surprised to hear that her friends and family didn't know about her marriage, and was almost sure that her husband and her murderer were the same person, based on the gang's previous young victims.

'One minute,' Flack called in response to a knock at the door. 'Oh, hi Josh,' he greeted, pulling the door open wider to let his colleague enter, 'what's up?'

'Morning,' the older man greeted, 'I hope this isn't too early.'

'No, it's okay. Coffee?'

'No, thanks. I came because I wanted to tell you that I might have a lead on where Marcy's killer is. I was going to go alone, but after last night – you want to come?'

'You were going to go alone?' Flack repeated in surprise. 'Isn't that kind of dangerous? From what you told me, I wouldn't get caught anywhere near them alone.'

Josh smiled. 'I guess it is, but at the risk of sounding cocky, his daughter's usually there to help me out if there's any trouble. And they're pretty predictable – this time of the day they get drunk, so as long as you can outrun them and you know your way around, they don't catch you.'

'Guns…?' Flack reminded him, raising his eyebrows.

'If you don't want to come…'

'Hey, I never said that. You got an address?'

'Yep.'

'Let's go!'

* * *

'She's already been discharged,' the receptionist told them with an apologetic smile.

'What?' Danny exclaimed, 'she almost died, and they only operated on her a few hours ago. How can she be gone already?'

'I'm sorry Detective, but that's what I have here. Her father came and demanded that we release her. We had no choice. But-' she continued, and hesitated.

'What is it?' Lindsay asked, 'we need anything you can give us. She could be in trouble.'

The woman reached under the desk and came up with a small bag. 'We empty our patients' pockets when they come, and she forgot to pick up her belongings when she left. I shouldn't really give them to you, but I suppose if you need them…' she handed them across the desk.

'Thank you,' Lindsay smiled as she accepted the package.

'And we need to talk to the doctor who did the surgery,' Danny announced.

'Of course.'

'So, now can I be scared of Mac?' the woman turned and spoke softly so that she didn't disturb the receptionist.

'Nah. We've got some of her things, there's bound to be a fingerprint on something. We'll find her, Montana.' He assured her.

* * *

'Hello,' the receptionist greeted as Stella walked in to the office of doctor Walden, 'can I help you?'

'Hi,' Stella smiled, 'I need to speak to Doctor Walden, please.'

'I'm sorry, but she's busy-'

'It's important,' Stella told her, pulling out her badge, 'Detective Bonasera, NYPD. Can you tell her I'm here, please?'

'Okay.'

'Detective,' Doctor Walden was a tall, black haired woman with glasses and a pleasant smile, 'how can I help you?'

'Please, call me Stella,' the woman smiled. 'I need to ask you a few questions.'

The doctor nodded, gesturing towards a chair and sitting opposite her.

'Do you have a patient called Marcy Williams?' Stella began, showing her a picture of the young girl.

'She's only been in a couple times,' the woman nodded. 'Is something wrong?'

'She was killed last night.'

'Killed?' Walden repeated in dismay. 'She was such a nice girl. It's a shame.'

Stella waited a moment before she continued. 'I know as a doctor you have to keep your patients' information confidential, but could you tell me why Marcy came to see you?'

'Well…in this case, I suppose it's okay.' She sighed, 'Like I said, the first time I saw her was about a week ago. She made an appointment to come and see me because she thought she might be pregnant – it was strange, she refused to tell me who the father was,' she added thoughtfully.

'And was she?' Stella prodded.

'I wasn't sure, it was too soon. That's why I told her to come back – she was supposed to come-' she reached for her appointment book, 'three days ago, but she called at the last minute to tell me she couldn't make it and asked if I wouldn't mind her calling me to book another appointment at another time.'

'Which was supposed to be yesterday.'

'Yes, at twelve.'

'Did she come?'

'Yes. And she was. Pregnant, I mean. But very early stages – there's no way the baby would have survived if she was killed.'

Stella nodded. 'Did she seem happy about the baby?'

'Yes. In fact, she called someone before she even left the office. I don't know who, I'm afraid,' she added.

'Did she use your phone?'

'No, she had a cell phone...' she glanced at her watch, 'I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.'

Stella smiled. 'You've been a big help, doctor. Thank you for your time,' she told her, shaking her hand again as she got up.

'It's no problem.'

* * *

Mac looked up when Stella strode into the lab, pulling on her lab coat and a pair of gloves.

'You look happy,' he remarked, 'I take it the doctor helped?'

'She said Marcy made a call on her cell phone before she left the office. Maybe to tell her husband she was pregnant.'

'Pregnant?' Mac repeated, 'have I mentioned how much I love the way you give me information?'

Stella was too busy looking through the call history to answer him. 'The appointment was at twelve, and she made two calls since then. Bet she didn't know they were going to be the last calls she'd ever make.'

'Who were they to?'

'No caller ID, just the numbers. I'll run them through the system. What d'you get?' she asked, finally turning her full attention to her partner.

'Not much. I found some partial prints on her shirt, presumably from where he dragged her, but there was no match in AFIS.'

'So we're still nowhere, basically,' Stella let out a sigh of frustration. 'Let's see if we get anything off the numbers.'

* * *

'Woah!' Danny exclaimed, pulling something out of the bag they had taken from the hospital. 'What's a little kid doing with a gun?'

'A 9mm. The same kind the bullet came from,' Lindsay remarked, carefully taking it from him and looking over it. 'A girl with a gun is a girl that might have her prints in AFIS.' She murmured, reaching for the powder.

'There goes that innocent theory again. Maybe she's the murderer and she got shot by an angry bystander. Or an upset partner – does that answer your question?' he added quickly as Lindsay opened her mouth to say _'she wouldn't have been able to move a body as big as Marcy's alone.'_

'Why don't you make yourself useful and see what else there is in there?' she suggested, sounding mildly annoyed.

Danny smiled as he emptied the rest of the contents onto the table. He knew how to get to his Montana.

* * *

'You can still go back if you want to,' Josh offered to a nervous Flack who wasn't as good at hiding his nervousness as he thought he was.

'I'm fine,' the detective argued, looking up at the derelict houses around them. 'Which one is it?'

'Down there. Where the voices are coming from.'

As they went closer, the angry yelling grew louder as the argument grew more intense.

Flack gripped the cold metal handle of his gun, unnaturally comforted by it. Not a violent man by nature, he tried to use it as little as possible but right now, not knowing exactly what he was walking into, it was nice to know that he had it.

Josh, at the same time, seemed more angry and impatient than worried, clenching his fists as they listened.

'What the heck were you thinking?' the first man yelled, 'you weren't supposed to kill her! And how dare you shoot at Steph?'

'Steph's his daughter,' Josh told his partner quietly, looking concerned.

'She saw me,' a loud, slightly slurred voice retorted, 'how was I supposed to know it was her?'

'You shouldn't have been there in the first place! What's your excuse?'

'She told me she was pregnant.'

'That's it?' the first man said incredulously. 'That's a good thing, you idiot!'

'We already got one. Don't want any more.'

'I don't care what you want! The more kids we have, the better.'

'I'll fix it,' the man's voice had lowered, and sounded meek.

'You're right you will. Ask Steph to give you a name. And no killing anyone unless I tell you to!' he snapped.

* * *

**A/N: I'm not gonna make any promises, but I'll ask anyway; how many of you want Flack and Josh to get into trouble?**

**so, what's the verdict? good, bad, another adjective...**


	5. Stephanie Mason and Marcy Williams

**A/N: Hi! I'm back!**

**okay, now I know why people put these stories on their alerts. It's the busiest fandom I've seen so far - you update a story and a couple of hours later it's down to number 19! wow. Not that I'm complaining, there's some great stories here and I'm humbled that you actually like mine too. :)**

* * *

Josh pulled him back into an alley as the door slammed and footsteps came towards them.

'That's Mason,' he identified the bigger of the two, a tough looking man with rather long hair, a muscular build and an impressive scar on the back of his hand. 'They all have those scars,' he added, noticing Flack looking at it, 'some kind of initiation thing.'

'Looks painful,' the detective remarked. He let out a breath as they passed out of sight. 'So we can't follow them – go in the house?'

'Yeah. Stephanie might be in there, anyway.'

'How old is this kid?' Flack asked as they walked towards the building, suddenly realizing he didn't actually know.

'Ten going on thirty. She knows and has seen a lot more than she should have,' he elaborated.

'And how did you get her to help you?'

'She's his daughter. That's about the only link between them.'

* * *

'Okay, one of the numbers is Paul Jacobs, and the other one is Josh Connelly. Connelly's actually a detective.' Stella announced.

'These are useless.' Mac grumbled, packing away the clothes. 'She called Josh?' he asked, looking up.

'Yeah. There were three calls made yesterday; she called Paul from the doctor's office in the morning, he called her later that evening – that must be the call Flack mentioned – and she called Josh just after that.'

'Her friend said she was scared,' Mac remarked, 'scared enough to call an officer? But why him specifically? If she thought she was in danger, why didn't she just dial 911?'

'Alyssa said they were friends,' Stella reminded him, 'maybe he told her she could call him if she was in trouble.'

'Okay. Where do we find this Paul?'

'We don't. We trace him back to the last place he worked, four years ago, and talk to his employer. Good old dad.'

'There's no record of him after that?'

'Nope.'

'And when do we talk to the father?'

'As soon as you're ready.'

* * *

'Stephanie Mason,' Lindsay murmured.

'What?' Danny asked, moving to read the screen over her shoulder.

The child in the picture was no older than ten, and had long dark hair. There was something about her that made her seem sad, and her hazel eyes spoke volumes about her frustration.

'Anything this kid hasn't done?' he remarked. 'Attempted murder, accessory to kidnapping, blackmail…'

'Because of her father,' Lindsay told him. 'Dirk Mason. All of the above and so much more. Ringleader. Only ever been arrested once, and was bailed out pretty quick. Same with everyone who works for him – they never spend more than a few hours behind bars.'

'I bet the police love that setup. Any address?'

'No. What's that?' she asked, noticing the piece of paper he was holding.

'A list,' he looked at it and read it more closely. 'Of names of women,' he continued, 'and Marcy's is on it.'

'Her father's victims?'

'A list of victims from her father for her to deal with? Sorry Montana, but the more I hear about this kid the more trouble I'm having with this faith thing.'

'Maybe not…was there anything else?'

'Nothing that makes any sense.' He told her, going back over to the table. 'A penknife, a pen, a locket, and…something I'm assuming is some kind of cell phone.' He concluded, holding up a small black box-like object.

'Why a cell phone?'

'It's got a screen and a pad with numbers,' he told her, clicking it open and grinning. 'Does that or does that not look like a flat cell phone?'

'Well you did show it to me closed,' the woman retorted. 'What's that for?' she wondered aloud, looking at a larger screen on the inside of the cover.

'Dunno. Looks like some kind of tracking device.'

Lindsay sighed. 'So, we know her name, her father and things she's been charged with. Do we…try to contact her?'

'Well, we do have to get this stuff back to her. Let's start looking for a city address.'

* * *

'You don't need those,' a young girl that Flack assumed was Stephanie told them calmly when they came in, guns drawn.

They quickly pocketed them and she smiled.

'Before you start, I don't know what you heard but I'm fine,' she announced.

'You got shot.' Josh argued concernedly, moving to sit next to her on the sofa, his hand itching to check the wound for himself.

'So you heard too much,' the girl grumbled, puling up her shirt for him to see the bandages. 'I did go to the hospital.'

She looked up, finally deciding to acknowledge the other detective. He opened his mouth to tell her his name, but she beat him to it.

'Detective Donald Flack junior, son of Don Flack senior, another cop. You're cute.' She added.

'Uh…thanks,' he smiled, slightly embarrassed. 'How did you know that?'

'It's my job to know cops. Besides, I know him. He expects me to know all his colleagues.'

'No I-' Josh began to argue. He stopped. 'Yeah, I do.' He smiled meekly. 'Just in case she needs help and I'm not around. She needs to know who she can call,' he explained.

The girl shook her head. 'I can't help you anyway. I ain't got my stuff, I left it at the hospital.' She frowned. 'I think. The cops could have taken it at the scene.'

'Even if they didn't, they've probably taken it from the hospital by now,' Flack remarked. 'Do you know who they were?'

The girl laid back and closed her eyes as she thought about it.

'No way.' Josh told her, 'if you were out of it enough for people to call CSIs, you wont have heard any names.'

'Shut up, Connelly.' She rebuked him, not bothering to move.

'See what I have to put up with?' he asked, looking up at the younger man who smiled.

Flack thought for a moment. 'Taylor, Bonasera, Messer, Monroe-'

'Not Monroe. Mon….tana. Yeah, that's it. It was a woman, and someone called her Montana.' She corrected. She looked at him, cracking one eye open. 'Did you say Messer?'

'Yeah.'

'Louie Messer?' she repeated, looking confused.

'Danny,' Josh told her, clicking his tongue, 'he's a cop.'

'Danny Messer, brother of Louie Messer, son of... Messer senior – that Messer?'

Josh glanced at Flack before he confirmed it. This time she seemed to take the hint and left it alone.

'What the heck kind of name is Montana anyway?' she giggled, then grimaced as the movement hurt her chest.

'A nickname.' Flack told her, 'it's where she's from.'

'So if people started calling you New York, you wouldn't get mad?'

'Sure I would. So does she…it's complicated.'

'They're in love,' she grinned. 'A girl from Montana in love with a Messer. That's gonna end in trouble,' she muttered.

'I'll call them and see if they've got your stuff.' He offered.

'Will you leave it alone?' Josh hissed once the detective's back was turned, 'I doubt if they know about Tanglewood. Make any more comments about it and Danny won't exactly be your best friend.'

'Yeah. Okay, I wont. What were you going to ask about anyway?'

'A girl got murdered last night, she was found in Central Park. They think you might be a witness.'

'Was it Marcy?'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Josh demanded in exasperation.

'I was kinda distracted, Tective.'

'Don't start calling me that again,' the man groaned.

'So, Flackie, what d'you get?' she asked as he turned back to them.

He raised his eyebrows. 'Flackie?'

'Yeah,' she answered, unmoved by his reaction, 'got a problem with that?' she teased.

'Well…'

'Don't bother saying yes,' Josh warned him, 'she'll do it anyway.'

'Right. They've got your things at the lab, we could bring them back to you later-'

'Why?' the girl demanded.

'Don't you want them?' the detective asked, caught by surprise.

'Sure I do. Why do I got to wait till later?'

'Because we need to go there and get them and bring them back?' Flack hazarded, completely taken aback by the questions.

'I don't get it.' she told him, frowning and shaking her head.

'What she's trying to say,' Josh interrupted before Flack could let her play with him any further, 'is that she wants to come with us and get them.'

'You're no fun.'

* * *

Mr Jacobs turned out to be an older man of around fifty, with white hair and a kind, although somewhat strained, smile as he rose to greet them.

'Thank you for seeing us,' Stella smiled, 'I'm Detective Bonasera, we spoke on the phone, and this is my partner, Detective Taylor.'

'Yes,' he nodded, shaking hands with each of them, 'please, sit down,' he told them, seating himself behind the large oak desk.

His office was a large room with a desk, a cabinet, and a few chairs and glass doors which looked out over the corridors and the other employees of the law firm of Jacobs and Associates.

'I hear you wanted to talk about my son?' he began.

'Yes,' Mac answered, 'when was the last time you spoke to him?'

The man smiled sadly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. 'I'm afraid it's been a few years. He was working here with me, and he was almost ready to take over the firm – but I was forced to fire him. He hasn't spoken to me since.'

Stella looked at his face more closely, and frowned. 'Did someone hit you?'

'What? No, of course not,' he tried to laugh it away, 'you mean this?' he asked, gently touching a fading bruise on his cheek. 'A silly accident.'

'That's a difficult place to get a bruise,' she argued carefully, not wanting to make him feel that she was attacking him. 'Was it Paul?'

'I-' the man hesitated, avoiding their gaze. He nodded, biting his lip.

'Why did he hurt you?' Mac asked.

The lawyer sighed. 'I fired him because he started drinking. He started to lose control, and would lash out at people easily… over senseless things. It was dangerous to let him stay here. A while ago, he lost his house because he never got another job and he couldn't pay for it. That was when he started calling – threatening me to help him with money and a place to stay. I tried to refuse – I don't condone what he did – and he hit me. He was drunk.'

Mac and Stella glanced at each other.

'Do you know where your son is now?' Stella asked.

'Why are you looking for him?' the man asked, finally raising his eyes to look at them, fatherly loyalty still shining in their dark depths.

He continued to stare at them as they hesitated. 'Tell me,' he repeated quietly, 'It doesn't get much worse than a father having to watch his only child destroy himself.'

'We need to talk to him,' Stella told him at last, sliding a picture of Marcy across the table. 'We think he may have been involved in the murder of that girl. Do you know her?'

'Marcy,' he murmured. 'A nice girl. She's studying law in college, and she came here a couple of years ago for an internship, to learn more about working in this kind of business. She's dead?' he repeated sadly. 'A shame.'

'Were she and Paul friends?' Mac asked.

'They were at first, but then she seemed to become afraid of him.'

'That's around when her parents said she started to change,' Stella remarked, more to her partner than the man in front of her.

Mac nodded. 'You don't know where he is?'

Mr Jacobs shook his head. 'The last time I heard from him – a couple of weeks ago – he was still in the apartment I rented for him.'

'It's rented in your name?' Stella asked.

The man nodded. 'I'm sorry, I don't have the address. He…didn't want me to have it. I just give him the money.'

The detectives glanced at each other, and nodded. It was time to go.

'Thank you for your time, sir,' Mac told him, taking back the picture.

'Anything to help,' the man answered.

He kept his surprisingly firm grip on Stella's hand as he shook it, holding her gaze. 'Promise me you wont hurt him.'

'We wont,' the woman promised with a reassuring smile, 'we just want justice. And we want to help him, if we can.'

'Thank you,' he smiled, the first genuine smile since they had arrived.

* * *

'Do you think he's the husband?' Mac asked as they left the office building.

'He's a little old for her, isn't he?'

The man gave her a disapproving look. 'Will you stop making a joke out of everything?'

'Lighten up. He does seem to be the most likely person – if he was violent and an alcoholic, maybe he forced her to marry him and if I were her, I wouldn't go around bragging about having a husband like that.'

Mac nodded in agreement, climbing into the driver's seat.

'Hey, Mac? What say we get Flack to look up this apartment and we go grab something to eat?'

'You can't be hungry again.'

'It's almost lunchtime!' the woman protested, 'I have a healthy Greek appetite. And besides, you wouldn't let me have breakfast.'

'I didn't stop you.'

'Appearing at my door at seven thirty stops me. So you're buying.'

'Okay, okay,' he held up his hands in mock surrender, 'I'll buy. What do I get?'

'A slap round the head?' she grinned. 'Sorry, you told me to stop making jokes,' she pretended to sober, 'you get another clue I just thought of,' she offered thoughtfully, staring out the windscreen and squinting a little, as if she was looking for the answer down the street.

'Thought of or thought up?' the man said quietly, pulling the car away from the curb.

* * *

'You know, the more fun she makes of you, the more it means she likes you,' Josh assured him softly as they left the house, Stephanie striding a short way ahead.

'I wish she didn't then,' Flack grumbled, 'I've never liked being called that.'

'Really? I couldn't tell from the scowl on your face.' he smiled.'She got you with those questions.Don't worry, when we get there she'll start on Mon…uh-roe.'

'She'd better not. Danny's the only one who gets away with calling her that.'

'And she's the only one who's getting away with calling you Flackie. Flackie.'

'Oh, shut up. Tective. What does that mean, anyway?'

Josh shrugged. 'Makes sense to her. Don't ask if you like your sanity.'

'She scares me. How does she know all that information about everyone? I'm surprised she didn't know Lindsay's old address.'

Josh smiled. 'She's good at remembering information. She learns everything she can about everyone – more or less what she does for her father. Gets a little carried away sometimes, but you have to remember she is only a kid – she needs to vent her energy somewhere.'

'She doesn't act like one.'

'She hasn't had much of a chance to.'

'Come on Flackie, surely those long legs can move you faster than that?' the girl called, already climbing into a car that had been parked on the street.

He pretended to ignore Josh as he started laughing.

* * *

'You think she's a mother?' Mac repeated incredulously, looking at his partner across the table as they waited for their food to arrive.

Stella nodded. 'Some women – especially if they've already had a baby before – are able to tell their pregnant early on. The doctor said that when she came for the first appointment, it was too early to tell for sure, and the second time she confirmed it.'

'Maybe she just knew her body.'

'Or maybe she's been through it before and knew about being pregnant.'

'Here's an idea,' Mac said quietly, leaning forward and making her lean towards him, 'why don't we find her husband and ask him?' he suggested, suddenly raising his voice and making her jerk back.

She scowled at him. 'Funny.'

'You told me to lighten up.'

* * *

**A/N: wierd place to stop, but it was getting to ten pages, which officially makes this the longest chapter I've ever written. (hopefully long is still good) **

**I know, I could have got a much better scene from Josh and Flack, (there's a reason I didn't promise, lol) but it would have distracted from the rest of the story and was unnecessary, so I didn't. :( Thanks for all the responses!**

**btw, this story just got to 1,000 hits! (just in case anyone cared, it means a lot to me)**

**Thanx for all the reviews, guys! **


	6. Plans

**A/N: I would have updated sooner, but I never realized that writer's block was contagious. My writing friend got it, I spent time with her...and started suffering. Don't worry, I've told her to keep her distance till she's better :D**

**This chapter was longer, but then I realised that a good author doesn't give everything away too soon. Don't flame me. I like constructive criticism.**

* * *

'I have to go,' Stephanie announced, answering a call on her cell phone, which she called a tracer, and standing up. She glanced at Josh, who shook his head.

'I have to go back to the station. I'll see you later, okay?'

She nodded and left, waving to the others.

She, Flack and Josh had met Danny and Lindsay in the break room, where the girl had retrieved her things and they had discussed what had happened, to the point where Stephanie had come up with a daring plan.

* * *

Josh turned as soon as she had gone. 'Look, Monroe, you don't have to do that. She gets these ideas sometimes…'

'Is there another way?' the blonde interrupted.

'There'd better be,' Danny and Flack said at the same time.

'You're not doing that,' Danny added.

Lindsay scowled at them. 'I can look after myself, you know. What exactly do I have to do?' she asked, looking back at Josh.

* * *

'Well, even if he didn't murder her, we've got him for stalking.'

Mac looked up when he heard Stella's voice drift from the bedroom of the small apartment that they had traced down as belonging to Paul. He rose from his kneeling position, where he had been meticulously looking through the drawers of the bedside cabinet and went to join her.

The room was empty save for the single bed that was up against the far wall, but it was one of the other walls that the CSIs were interested in.

The entire wall was plastered with photographs. Candid shots of Marcy, on campus, in the store, in her car, and even a few of her lying on a bed in a room that looked a lot like the one they were standing in. She was alone, but whoever was behind the camera was saying or doing something that was leaving tear streaks down her cheeks that were even visible in the picture, when they looked more closely.

Mac's beeper sounded, and he looked at the message.

'Danny,' he announced, 'wants us to go back. They have some information they want to tell us.'

'Well we're not going to get much here,' Stella remarked, looking around. 'I'll meet you back at the office. I want to see if I can find the super.'

Mac nodded, carefully removing a few of the pictures for testing, 'you can have another try at the other tenants, if you like.'

'Uh… I think we already decided that was useless,' she responded, thinking of the grumpy, uncooperative people they had encountered by knocking on doors. 'I'm off. See you later.'

* * *

'Montana's nice,' Stephanie remarked as she and Josh walked back towards her house.

The detective smiled. 'You remembered to call her Monroe.'

'You know I do that.'

Josh nodded, and frowned. 'You know, if we do arrest your dad, you're going to need to arrange your sub. If you still want me to do it, you'd better hurry up and get me the contract to sign.'

'How do I get dad to write up the contract without him getting suspicious?' the girl wondered aloud.

'Oh…I always thought they were already prepared so they were ready when someone agrees to sign it.' _Uh oh._

Stephanie shrugged thoughtfully. 'Maybe. I don't know, I've never really thought about it.'

There was a moment of silence, and she suddenly snapped her fingers.

'Marcy's got a kid, I forgot!'

* * *

Stella knocked on the door of the superintendent's office.

'I already told you, I don't know where Jacobs is!' a voice yelled from inside.

She stayed quiet, and presently the door was opened. She pulled out her badge and smiled sweetly.

'Detective Bonasera, NYPD. Who else is looking for Mr Jacobs?'

* * *

'We still need evidence,' Mac remarked after they had taken turns repeating what Stephanie had told them, confirming that Paul was Marcy's murderer. 'Even if she is involved, she didn't see it happen.'

'Well… we might actually have a plan for catching them.' Lindsay announced cautiously, scowling at Danny and Flack as they opened their mouths to protest.

Mac caught the look and frowned. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

* * *

**A/N: Did that even make sense? I don't like this chapter very much. This story's getting hard now, lol. I can build up but I'm not so good at the middle part - after the beginning at before the end :D**

**FYI: sub is not a submarine, or a sandwich, lol. It'll be explained later. And from the last chapter (it'll probably come up again) Tective is Stephanie's nickname for Josh. It does technically mean something, but his comment about not asking if you want to keep your sanity is good advice. A little something my badly-wired brain came up with. :P**

**Thought of the day; yeah, I know these notes are too long. I never know what to say. Do you say nothing and seem unfriendly (no offence intended, I'm talking about myself) or blabber on hoping that you're making people laugh and not annoyed? I do put the long one after the chapter - gives you some extra time to think up a good review. You know, the one you're about to leave? **


	7. Shakespeare and sickos

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny, Flack or any of those other people, but I do own the nutcases, murderers and maniacs, including Stephanie, Josh, Alyssa and Jennifer :D jk, they're harmless.

**A/N: josie hardy rule #1: never leave a story unfinished. **

**k? won't happen. I might leave it for awhile, but I'll always be back. Especially if it's popular :D**

**Thanx for all the reviews! I love them!**

* * *

'You're not really going to let her do that, are you?' Stella asked.

She had arrived at the office in time to catch Lindsay pitching her idea to her boss. She had pretended to accept his arguments as common sense, but they all knew she was going to go through with it anyway.

'It could work. We just don't need to let it go that far.'

'You want us to follow her?' Danny asked.

Mac nodded. 'Discreetly. She's decided she wants to do it, and she'll just get upset if she finds out you're around.'

'Uh – wont she still get upset when we butt in?' Flack frowned.

'Oh yeah, but I'd rather have her upset than hurt. I care about her too, you know. She's part of this team, and it's our responsibility to look out for her. What are you waiting for?' he demanded as they stayed where they were.

'So, what did the super say?' he asked as the duo left.

'Just that there's been a couple of guys coming round the apartment looking for Paul. They've been coming nearly every day for the last month.'

'But he still doesn't know what they look like,' Mac muttered. 'Friends?'

Stella shrugged. 'They never agreed to leave a message, or to tell him what they wanted. They just came, banged on the apartment door, asked the super where he was and left.'

'So no help.'

'Unless he was in trouble. Maybe he had to kill Marcy.'

'Go back, check the door for-' he stopped as she held up a hand.

'Already done, the prints are in the lab.' she grinned. 'Now what say we go find that teammate you're so worried about?'

* * *

The dean frowned as she considered the proposal.

'Well, if it'll help you catch the man who murdered Marcy, you have my full support,' she smiled. 'What do you need from me?'

'We need you to put these fake records into the system, in case he hacks into a computer instead of speaking to me directly,' Lindsay explained, 'and if you could just tell the professors that I'm a new student, so that he doesn't think anything's amiss?'

'I'll see what I can do.'

An hour later she was back on campus, talking to the other girls from Marcy's classes while at the same time trying to keep to places where Paul would most likely be able to see her, if he was nearby searching for his next victim. _Unless he's aleady chosen her. Josh was worried about Jennifer and Alyssa._

'Hi there,'

She whirled around to see a middle aged man standing behind her whose appearance could be described in one word...dark. From his black hair to his tanned complexion and his brown, almost black, fathomless eyes, only his perfect white teeth stood out in stark comparison.

'Uh...hi.' she greeted, flicking her hair back and smiling, 'can I help you?'

'I sure hope so. The name's Paul, by the way.'

'Lindsay.'

'A pretty name for a pretty girl,' he complimented in a deep, soft voice. 'Well, Lindsay, how about you and me go and find someplace quiet to talk?'

'I've got a class...'

'Come on,' he wheedled, 'would you really rather go and sit in a boring lecture? Get the notes from a friend. You look like the kind of girl who knows how to have fun. I didn't make a mistake, did I?'

She looked at him, smacking the piece of gum in her mouth a couple of times as she pretended to think about it.

'Let's go.' _Part one, complete._

She didn't know that part two was about to be changed.

* * *

'I know she'd take offense at this, but she looks like she could be a college kid,' Stella remarked as they watched her from a car across the road.

Her hair pulled back, a piece of gum in her mouth which was actually a personal nervous habit and casual jeans and a blouse made the young woman look even younger, to the point that she fit in pefectly with the other students.

'There's a reason it's her out there and not you,' Mac told her.

'What, the toughened orpahn versus the innocent country girl?'

'I don't think of you as tough. I just don't picture you as a victim.'

'That's contradictory, Taylor.'

'I've never been known for my way with words. A pretty name for a pretty girl?' he scoffed.

'I've heard better,' she sighed, looking back over the campus grounds.

'Yeah? Like what?' Mac enquired, amused by the unexpected claim.

'A rose by any other name would be Stella.' she smiled. 'Or Lindsay, in this case.'

'Shakespeare. Romantic. And you wonder why marriage never works out? Romeo and Juliet, Athony and Cleopatra, etc.'

'You're such a pessimist.' Stella teased. Her comment was only half hearted, as his references to ill-fated lovers made her wonder if Claire's death reminded him of them. _The way his attitude and his personality changed, he did act as is he wished he were dead as well._

_

* * *

_

'Flack,' Josh greeted as the detective came over to join him, 'you look worried.'

Flack smiled as he sat down. 'I was just thinking about the kids – Stephanie and Marcy's, if – it's - still alive.'

'Oh yeah, that reminds me. I asked Steph about that. She's not sure, but she told me it was a boy, about three or four, name's Max. She's trying to find out where he is now.' Catching his colleague's dubious look, he added, 'she's in a better position than me. If the kid was born on purpose – ie, Paul raped Marcy to get a kid to sell to Mason, she's the one that stands a better chance of finding out what happened to it and, if it was auctioned, who bought it.'

'Auctioned? Kid auctions?'

Josh nodded ruefully. 'Exactly what it sounds like; an auction buying and selling kids to work for Mason or the rest of his gang. Works internationally now. Only problem is, they keep it so secret and private that even Stephanie can't give me a lead as to where they hold them. Trust me, if she could, I would have moved in on them years ago.'

'Child slavery. That's sick.'

'Mmmm.'

'How's she doing, anyway?' he asked, deciding to change the subject, 'That wound healing up?'

Josh nodded. 'She's a quick healer. Doesn't let anything slow her down, either. You saw her the other day – likes to pretend nothing's wrong. You wanted to ask me something?'

'Just what's going to happen to them, if we arrest Mason. Paul wont be able to get-'

'Wont want,' Josh corrected.

'Won't want custody of Max, and Stephanie...where is her mother?'

'Dead, as far as we know. Stephanie I'll probably take care of, I am her sub and everything. Max, I don't know. We have to find him first, he could be dead. What?' he asked, seeing Flack's blank face.

'Sub?'

'It's a 'Stephanie world' thing. Sub, short for substitute. If I use her as an example, it's a contract made up by Mason that's signed by him and me agreeing that if anything happens to him – like getting arrested – I have to look after her. All the parents do it.'

'Does he know you signed it?' the younger man asked, an amused smile flickering across his face.

'I don't even know if there is one yet. I hope so,' he added thoughtfully, looking back down at his plate. 'Otherwise, legally they'd have to go into foster care. But kids have a habit of disappearing.'

He glanced up in time to catch the detective's disturbed look and shrugged. Even New York's finest couldn't protect everyone. That was why CSIs existed.

* * *

**A/N: I told you I was going to explain what a sub was. Now to work 'Tective' into a conversation...give me another couple of weeks :D**

**Word of the day: (yeah word, not thought. I've given up thinking.) Gringlisch. Greek/English. When someone who's used to speaking Greek speaks English and drops in a couple of Greek words every now and then. I wonder if Stella/Melina ever use it. It might sound stupid, but I've actually heard quite a few people use that word :p**

**review? thoughts? questions? observations? queries? suggestions? requests? anyone wants to chat? email me, i answer everything; texts, emails, IMs, reviews...**

**I'm gonna go shut up now...**


	8. Expectation is a fickle thing

**A/N: I swear, I had it ready a couple of days ago, it got as far as the document manager... and I got attacked by a twist bunny. Where do these evil things come from? I'm going to get a restraining order.**

**Anyway, I hope you like what I did with it :D you'd better, or I'll be killing a few bunnies. lol**

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The first part of the plan had worked. She had his attention, and now it was just a matter going along with his routine – long enough to get his trust and a confession.

Lindsay walked towards Paul's black SUV, expecting to go with him and alert the others when it was time to move in and arrest him.

Mac and Stella, watching from across the street, expected to stop him before he had the chance to be alone with her, more concerned about Lindsay's safety than how she would react to the intervention.

Danny and Flack were waiting at his regular haunt as their backup plan, ready to take over if they failed.

Paul answered his tracer, and his smile broadened as he listened. A cop would be his greatest accomplishment, and Mason would be very pleased with his work.

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Lindsay glanced at him as he hung up. _Why is he smiling like that?_ she wondered, suddenly unnerved.

She had her gun, and knew that Flack or Danny, if not both, who had insisted on following her, would be nearby if anything happened, but if someone had already told him who she was ... _calm down Monroe, you're being unreasonable. How could anyone have found out?_

'Don't worry about it,' Paul told her, 'we're just going sompelace quiet to talk.' _And hopefully do a whole lot more._

Mac and Stella saw them getting into the car and climbed out to stop them. Someone else stopped them first.

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Lindsay twisted back in her seat at the sound of gunfire. _Danny! Flack! I knew they should have stayed out of it..._

'Er ... shouldn't we call the police?' she suggested, struggling to keep her voice casual when all she really wanted to do was run back and make sure they were okay.

'Someone else will do it,' he assured her calmly, stopping for a red light. _Two down, two to go._

The others were even simpler to shake off. A left turn when the light went green... and Detective Monroe would be all alone.

_So he doesn't know who I am,_ Lindsay thought with relief, _someone just warned him that there were two cops waiting to follow him._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

It was over within seconds and they carefully moved back into the open.

'Well, we've lost them,' Mac remarked, the first thing he looked at being the last place they saw Paul and Lindsay.

'Yeah, I'm fine too,' Stella confirmed. 'I'll let Flack know. And you shouldn't worry about her so much ... she got the job, didn't she?'

'I know that. I'm just trying to look out for my team,' he told her, slowly walking round the car.

Two shots to the tyres, one shattering the windscreen and others that had ricocheted off the road and disappeared made the intent obvious; they weren't aiming to kill, Paul had just made sure that he wouldn't be followed.

'Let's just hope he doesn't go off course,' Stella echoed his own thoughts.

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Lindsay was working hard to keep her features relaxed as he went in a different direction to what she was expecting; namely to the bar he frequented, where Josh was waiting.

'Bar's kinda busy this time of day,' he explained. 'This will be much better,' he announced, pulling to a stop.

Lindsay looked out the window. They were at a playground that had been abandoned because it was considered too dangerous for the children. She was alone.

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Josh glanced at his watch and frowned. They should have been there by now, there was nowhere else he would have taken her. _Was there? _

He pulled out his cell phone and began dialling her number. Paul wouldn't have to know who was calling.

Danny and Flack were starting to come to the same realization; something had gone wrong. Mac hadn't called and Lindsay hadn't arrived. It was time to call Mac and figure out what to do next.

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Stephanie walked past the door for the hundredth time, debating with herself whether or not to go in. Her dilemma was soon solved.

'Kid!' Mason yelled, 'quit walking up and down and get in here already!'

He looked up as she obeyed and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

'Well? What is it? Is it hurting again?' he asked, his eyes automatically dropping to where she had been shot.

'No it's fine, it's nearly healed,' she assured him, 'I was thinking about the cops – they found me near Marcy, and they might get the idea I saw something.'

Her father tapped his pen against his teeth as he thought about it.

'You're worried about Paul,' he realized at last. 'I told you I would get rid of him-'

'You don't have to do that,' she argued quickly, 'but they could come looking for me, or even find Paul from the bullet.'

'I know I can trust you,' the man murmured. He looked up. 'But he's an idiot, we've got to stop accepting outsiders. Where is he anyway?'

_Somewhere with Lindsay, if she was stupid enough to try it_, she answered mentally, pulling out her tracer and activating the tracking device. She frowned.

'He's at the park.'

'Park?' Mason echoed.

'Some place he used to take Marcy. He likes it because it's deserted.'

'Deserted, huh?' a slow smile crossed his features. 'Did you get your gun back?'

'Yeah...' she answered uncertainly. _I'm not going to like this._

'Let's go use it,' he announced, standing and pulling out his own.

'You're going to kill him?'

'He's had it coming for a while. Here, you're driving,' he added, tossing her the keys. He stopped and looked at her. 'What are you looking so worried about? You going soft on me or something?'

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'Sorry,' Lindsay excused herself as her phone rang. She never got to answer it.

'Hey!' she exclaimed as he snatched it out of her hands.

He glanced at the screen and threw it at the ground so forcefully it fell apart.

'Lindsay ... you forgot to mention something.' he informed her, his face instantly changing from friendly to ferocious.

She put on her best 'dumb' expression. 'I-'

'You're a cop!' he snapped.

'What? No! Do I look like a cop?' she exclaimed, her words falling over each other as she panicked.

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**A/N: dun dun dun! uh oh! right? lol**


	9. Allies and enemies

**A/N: Hey, I'm back! **

**What do you think my chances are of using fanfics to get extra credit? Not sure my teachers know what that is...**

**Oh, just for the record, I've got nothing against lindsay – she just seemed the more appropriate character to use. K? Cool. **

**Can't be bothered to think up a good disclaimer, you know the basics; NOT MINE.**

**btw, (if anyone actually noticed) I'm using different scene breaks. Simple reason; ruler doesn't work anymore. No, there was no point in that comment, I just thought I'd point it out. You knew what it was, right?**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

'Drive around and see if you can find anything,' Danny grumbled as they pulled away, 'does anyone realize how big this city is?'

'You got a better idea?' Flack asked, heading towards the college to start the search from where they had last been seen.

'No. Imagine if we'd just left her to do this with Josh. Where's he? He took off, just when we found out something went wrong!'

Flack glanced at him as his voice and temper rose.

'Chill, we'll find her, and I'm sure she'll be fine.' he assured him.

'She should've listened to Mac,' Danny grumbled obstinately, 'he told her not to go through with it. Since when does Lindsay Monroe not do what he tells her? I thought she was still scared of him.'

'It was a good idea,' Flack defended her, 'it's not her fault he figured out who she was. And even our plan went wrong – Mac and Stel got stopped, didn't they? It didn't work out either way.'

Danny fell silent and frowned, turning to look out the window, scanning the surroundings for any sign of Paul's car.

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There was one characteristic that the method of the murder didn't always reveal; a quick temper. And Lindsay was finding out that Paul was one of those people.

As he continued to rant, she carefully tried to back away.

'Paul, you misunderstood,' she tried to argue when he paused for a moment, 'I'm not really a cop-'

He didn't wait to hear the rest of her explanation, striking out at her and hitting her forcefully across the face, splitting her lip. The force of the blow made her stumble, and she tripped over a rock, yelping as a sharp pain shot through her ankle. She instinctively tried to scramble backwards, as far away as she could get.

'Where you going, copper?' he smirked, easily following her.

He fell down beside her, kneeling over her on all fours and pinning her with a kind of expertise.

'You wanna know what happened to Marcy? Let me give you a demonstration.'

'No...' she pleaded, wanting to be sick as he looked at her lustfully.

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Stephanie waited until her father had moved out of sight before she turned back to the car and pulled out her tracer, dialling quickly.

'Come on...' she muttered, watching for his return, 'come on Josh, pick up. Pick up, pick up...'

'The number you have dialled is currently unavailable. Please try again later.' the polite voice told her.

The girl swore under her breath as she hung up, at the same time realizing that she didn't know any of the other detective's numbers. _Great, now what? I can't just leave, he'd figure out what was going on..._

She looked into the car and spotted the keys dangling out of the ignition.

'Kid, do I have to teach you how to use a tracer again?' Mason demanded as he stormed back towards where he expected to find his daughter, having discovered for himself that she had driven them to the wrong place.

He was greeted by the sound of screeching tyres.

'STEPH!' he yelled.

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'What's with you Connelly?' Josh rebuked himself as he excused himself from the others and went out to his car to retrieve his cell phone.

As he picked it up, he checked the screen and saw the missed call message.

'Steph?' he murmured, 'I thought you were at home.'

'Hey Josh, hurry up!' someone called.

'I'm coming,' he answered, turning back inside and slipping the phone into his pocket, the call forgotten. _Whatever it is, I'm sure she can handle it._

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Stephanie stopped the car. From her angle, she could see Paul leaning over someone but couldn't even tell for sure whether or not it was Lindsay, let alone if she was conscious or not.

'Doesn't matter,'

She pulled out her gun, and rested her hand on the door handle for a moment. _For someone that doesn't want to be like her father, you're going the wrong way about it, _she realized. Another look out the window argued that she was doing it to help Lindsay, and this was a situation that she could turn around for once. _I'll try Josh one more time. Then I'm going. _

'The number you are calling-' she hung up before the automated voice finished the sentence.

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'This is useless,' Stella remarked, 'Danny's right. There are so many places he could have gone, and he's had so long...'

'I know, but I'm not just going to go back to the office and wait for her to be brought in in a body bag,' Mac answered grimly.

'Hey, she knows how to look after herself...' she stopped before her partner had the chance to interrupt for himself. _But does she know how to handle someone so dangerous? What do we really know about this guy?_

Even knowing that all available police officers were keeping an eye out for them as they did their rounds didn't make them feel any better about the lack of success.

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Paul didn't hear anything until she slammed the door. He looked up and scowled as she confidently strode towards them.

'Get lost kid,' he ordered. 'This ain't none of your business.'

Stephanie glanced Lindsay, who she could now see was awake but evidently in a lot of pain.

'Get away from her,' she ordered, aiming the gun at him with a steady hand.

Lindsay finally raised her head as he got up.

'Steph?' she exclaimed, 'get out of here! What are you doing?'

But as she watched the girl's emotionless face and steady gun hand, finger ready on the trigger, she knew this was not the young girl they had met before. This was Stephanie Mason, and she meant business. _Is this because he shot her the other day? _She wondered, struggling to stay conscious as blackness threatened to overcome her.

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Stephanie might not have been showing it, but behind her cold exterior she was just as worried as Lindsay, regretting not having taken the time to leave Josh a message, or call the police. It was no secret that Paul didn't like her, and the look he was giving her right now left no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot her if she didn't get him first.

'Daddy wouldn't be best pleased if he found out you were sticking up for cops,' Paul smirked, walking towards her instead.

'He wont be best pleased to find out about what you were doing to a cop,' the girl retorted coldly. 'He told you who to go after next, and you disobeyed him.'

'You're wrong,' he chuckled, 'he'll be real happy with a cop.'

'No he wont,' a new voice announced.

They looked round to see Mason himself.

'She's right,' he announced, 'I don't tolerate people that dont listen to me, and this isn't the first time you've done it. Did I or did I not tell you to stay at the apartment? A dozen times I've sent people there to fetch you, and a dozen times they've come back and told me you weren't there. Maybe you'll listen to this.'

Paul's satisfied grin faded as Mason now pointed a gun at him. 'Leave them alone and throw that here.' he demanded, nodding towards his own weapon that had fallen limply to his side.

Paul froze, neither complying nor refusing, and stared at him as if he hadn't comprehended.

'What? - but – I-' he mumbled, his finger sliding towards the trigger. _You're not going to stop me._

Father and daughter caught the slight movement an instant before he turned back to shoot his victim, who had been too afraid to move.

Two shots were fired.

Both hit their mark.

Vehicles could be heard approaching, as if the shots were their cue, and the duo disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving the police with one of their own and a dead body.

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Alyssa looked up at the sound of a knock on her door.

'Hang on,' she called, closing her books.

She opened the door to find a young child, a boy of no more than three or four, dressed in dirty clothes and with unruly blonde hair and dirt across his face.

'Hey,' she said more softly, dropping down to his level. 'Are you lost? What's your name?'

'Max,' he answered quietly, 'are you Alyssa?'

'Yeah. Come on in,' she told him, opening the door wider and offering him something to drink as she tried to figure out who he was.

'Thanks,' he said politely as he perched himself on the chair she indicated. 'Uh... mommy said to give you this if I cant find her. Where is she?'

'Mommy?' the girl repeated, unfolding the paper.

**Alyssa,**

**If you're reading this, it means something's happened to me. Maybe I've disappeared, maybe I'm dead, but I'm not at the college and a young boy has turned up looking for me.**

She sat in silence for a moment after she finished the letter, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat and quickly brushing a tear away from her eye. _I never even realized... _and this was the girl she had called her best friend.

She refolded the letter, and looked up at the child watching her.

'Max...' she sighed. 'Your mom told you about me? I'm Alyssa, I was her friend. Mommy... had to go somewhere, so I'm going to look after you for a while, okay?' she smiled reassuringly.

Max returned the smile and nodded.

'Now let's get you cleaned up a little,' she suggested as she stood, 'you're filthy. What have you been doing?'

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**A/N: Okay, I'm putting myself at your mercy. See that pretty button? It's so cute... just sitting there waiting to be pressed... go on, try it! **

**Hey, where you going? **

"**Freeze! Freeze, s'leo! Press that batton sloly... anythin you say can and will be used agenst you in a court o'law!" **


	10. Loose ends

**A/N: I'm back! I know, you missed me. **

**Okay, I'll confess, I'm not too fond of this as a last chapter, but I think it works, so... read and review? which you have been doing very well, thank you :D**

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Josh leaned against his car and watched as Mason was put into one of the squad cars. There was no use trying to avoid having him arrested, after Lindsay had admitted it was him who killed Paul. They – and even Mason himself – had agreed to conceal the fact that Stephanie had also shot him, since her bullet had not been the fatal shot.

As a result, Mason was going to jail, and finally being punished for everything he had gotten away with in the past, while his daughter was being sent to an orphanage. Josh had already decided that he would apply to adopt her as soon as possible, knowing that even though she was a good kid, it was unlikely that anyone would be interested in a girl with her background.

'Penny for your thoughts?' a voice asked beside him.

He looked down to see Stephanie watching him. 'They're worth a lot more than that,' he sighed, 'I'm sorry Steph. If I could have found a way round it...'

'It's okay,' she interrupted, 'I know you tried. So, I have to go to an orphanage?'

The detective nodded. 'At least for a while. Then you could come live with me – if you want to, of course.'

'If I want?' she repeated, her face lighting up. 'Of course I want! You'd really do that?'

'Sure I would,' he repeated, getting a little embarrassed by her enthusiasm. 'I've learnt to tolerate you, I can't practise my new skills if you're not around, can I?'

Stephanie grimaced as she playfully punched him on the arm. 'Thanks. Hey... can I do something before we go?'

'There's no rush. What if we say... meet back at the office in a couple of hours?'

'Deal.'

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Lindsay looked up as someone knocked on the door, and smiled as it opened slightly and Stephanie looked in.

'Steph, hey. Come on in,'

'How is it?' she asked, eyeing the bandage on the woman's ankle as she sat in the armchair opposite her, looking around the small but cosy apartment.

'It's just sprained, I'll be fine in a couple of days,' Lindsay assured her. 'I owe you a thank you.'

The girl shrugged. 'It's okay.'

'I was lucky, it could've been worse. So, what have I missed being stuck in here?'

'They arrested dad, and Josh is going to take me to the orphanage. He's going to try and adopt me later...' her voice trailed off as she frowned.

'But?' the detective pressed.

'He shouldn't,' she announced unexpectedly, 'I don't want him to have to look after me, and I don't want him to think he has to. If I have to go to an orphanage and I should be there...'

'Steph,' Lindsay interrupted gently, 'I'm sure he doesn't think of it as a burden. If he's ready to adopt you, it's because he cares about you and he wants to make sure you're okay. You don't really want to be in an orphanage for the next eight years, do you?'

'Course not, but-'

'I've seen the two of you together,' the woman continued, 'you really seem to understand each other, and I think you'd like living with him, wouldn't you?'

The girl smiled. 'I like him,' she admitted, 'he's nice. Not that dad wasn't good – I mean, he never really hurt me, and he always tried to protect me from the others – but Josh is... a different kind of good.' she chuckled. 'That didn't make much sense, did it?'

'No, I think I get it,' Lindsay smiled. 'You'll be fine. And I know you care about your dad, but with Josh your life might even get better. And your dad had to get caught at some point.'

'I know,' she admitted, 'but he's got away with it for so long, it's weird to think he's actually going to jail.' she glanced at her watch. 'I should go,' she remarked.

'Okay. Thanks for coming to check on me, even though you're hardly the first. Here,' she reached for a piece of paper and wrote something on it. 'My number,' she explained as she handed it to her, 'if you ever want to talk, just give me a call, okay?'

Stephanie nodded and smiled. 'Okay, I will,' she promised.

She got up, then suddenly leaned forward and hugged her tightly. 'I'm glad you're okay,' she murmured into her shoulder.

Lindsay patted her on the back. 'I'm fine.' she assured her, 'and so will you be.'

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Mr Jacobs smiled as his secretary held open the door to let Stella through.

'Ms Bonasera,' he greeted, 'how can I help you?'

The detective shook her head as she took the proffered seat, 'I just came to say how sorry I am... I promised you-'

'Please,' he held up his hand to stop her, 'I'm sure you did everything you could to keep your promise. And, as terrible a thing it is for a parent to say, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. He can't hurt anyone else now.' his tone changed and he continued wistfully, 'I can stop worrying about what he's doing and remember him as the son I used to know; the good boy, the college graduate, my successor... When I remember how friendly he was with Marcy... to do something so senseless...' he shook his head, his gaze falling to the desktop in shame.

'You couldn't have stopped him,' Stella told him, 'you can't blame yourself. For whatever reason, he let himself get caught up in their bad ways. He knew how to get out of it if he wanted to. And don't think of Marcy's death as pointless – she's helped them get caught, so that neither of them can hurt anyone else. Maybe both their deaths are hidden blessings,' she smiled.

He looked up and she saw the twinkle in his eye.

'Very optimistic, detective.' he nodded. 'Thank you.'

Stella stood. 'I have to go. But if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to call,' she requested, putting her car on the table.

'I will.'

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She got back to the office in time to catch Mac preparing to respond to a scene.

'Where's it at, partner?' she drawled, leaning in the doorway and folding her arms.

Mac looked up. 'Downtown. Hit and run. I can go with Danny if -'

'Hey, we're partners,' she argued, 'that case is closed, on to the next. And besides, Danny is Lindsay's problem.' she frowned, 'or is Lindsay his problem? I'm not so sure anymore, after this stunt.'

'You're proud of her really,' Mac accused, following her out and closing the door behind them.

'Admit it.'

'It took guts,' Stella confessed, 'it would have been better if one out of the two had worked.'

'Ironic, isn't it? She had her plan, which she let Flack and Danny get involved in, we had our own plan behind her back, and it's Stephanie and her father that end up helping her, by finding out about it by accident.'

'Yeah, and now she's the one getting punished.' Stella added bitterly.

'You know Josh'll adopt her. So, if this guy lives in a fraternity, can I send you to question the roommate?' he teased.

'Funny, Taylor. I see your sense of humour's back,' _And not a minute too soon, either._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Josh looked up as Stephanie walked in.

'You done?'

She nodded.

'I called, and they're expecting us,' he told her, 'but there's no rush, we've got time.'

She came round the desk and perched herself on the arm of his chair, a sad smile on her face as she idly glanced at the papers spread out in front of him. He leaned back and put an arm round her shoulders, squeezing her gently.

'You alright?'

She nodded again, not trusting herself to speak.

'Everything's going to work out,' he promised.

'Hey, Josh?' she said at last.

'Yeah?'

'Thanks. For everything.'

He smiled. 'Anytime, kid.'

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Danny checked his cell phone for the hundredth time, knowing perfectly well she had neither called nor sent a text message since the last time he checked two minutes ago. He sighed as he picked it up and finally dialled, deciding to just get it over with. Apologising was not one of Danny Messer's strong points, but doing it over the phone was a lot more appealing than trying to do it face to face.

He knew she was deciding whether or not to answer as it rang... and rang... and rang. He was about to give up when he finally heard her clipped voice on the other end.

'Danny?'

'Hey Linds,' he greeted cautiously, 'Don't hang up... just hear me out. Please?'

No answer.

'Okay,' he took a deep breath and launched into a clumsy apology, 'I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean what I said. You and Flack were right, I was overreacting. But Linds – it's not an excuse, but I only did it because I was worried about you. I mean, you disappeared and you were alone with him, we didn't know what was going on, and then when we found you I was still so mad at Josh that I just... said some things I didn't mean and probably wouldn't have said if I hadn't been so worked up. I'm sorry.'

There was silence on the other end. Was she thinking about it or too angry and upset to accept his apology?

'Okay.' she said at last. 'So, are you guys still coming over later?'

'You bet you. See you then, Montana,' he grinned.

'Bye.'

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'Plenty of witnesses, and plenty of stories,' Flack greeted Mac and Stella when they arrived. 'Some say they saw the guy run out in front of the car, others say the car headed straight for him, and I even heard a couple claim they saw him get thrown out of another car right before he was hit. Take your pick.'

'A body's worth a thousand words,' Mac quipped, leading the way over to the victim, Stella following close behind.

'And would you look at this,' Flack grinned, pulling out the young man's ID. 'Fraternity kid. Have fun, Bonasera.'

'I thought questioning the students was the detective's job,' the woman retorted, 'I'm a CSI.'

'Maybe, but you're not called CSI Bonasera. You're called Detective Bonasera. Besides, it's a hit and run, I'm sure Mac can handle it.'

'Mac can't handle it, but she can go when we've finished processing,' Mac informed them. 'Stella, care to help?' he suggested sarcastically as she stayed standing where she was, ready to begin a battle of the scowls with Flack.

'Yeah. Go away Flackie.'

The detective frowned. _Who called me _- 'Oh yeah, what's happening with her now her dad's been arrested?'

'Orphanage,' Stella told him with a grimace, 'I think she's still with Josh though.'

'Hey Mac-'

'Go.' he interrupted before he could finish the request. 'We don't need you here anyway.'

'It's good to feel wanted.' Flack murmured as he turned away.

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He got to Josh's office in time to catch them getting ready to leave for the orphanage.

'Hey Flackie,' Stephanie said, when she spotted him.

Josh looked up. 'Hi. We've still got a couple of minutes,' he announced, 'I'll wait outside,' he offered, smiling at his colleague as he left the room.

'Nice work yesterday,' Flack was the first to speak after the door closed behind him, 'maybe we should make you an honorary detective for all your help. You practically solved this case for us.'

The girl chuckled. 'Josh said that. I don't mind helping, I like it. And anyway, I owe him after everything he's done for me.'

'You like it? Do we have another cop on our hands here?' he teased.

Stephanie shrugged. 'I'm thinking about it.'

'You'd be an inspiration. Especially to kids like Max.'

'All those people that say I'm just a kid,' she scoffed. 'They don't know nothing.'

Flack smiled. 'They sure don't,' he agreed sincerely.

'Steph, we should get going,' Josh announced, looking in at the door. 'Flack, you want to come with us?'

'No, it's better if you go alone,' the detective responded. 'And you, don't forget about us, okay?'

The girl nodded. 'How could I forget about Flackie the Gentle Giant?'

'You should be pleased with yourself,' Josh told her, 'you're the only one who's allowed to call him that.'

'I know,' she grinned. 'Flackie. It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?'

'No.' Flack pouted theatrically. 'Good luck, kid.'

'Thanks,' she followed Josh out of the office and down the hall.

She looked back and waved, and then she was gone.

_You deserve it._

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'Alyssa called me,' Josh told his young friend as they walked out, making the unspoken agreement to take the long way through the city, 'she wanted me to give her some advice about Max.'

'What did you tell her?' Stephanie asked curiously.

'Marcy entrusted him to her,' he explained, 'she has to make the plans, I can only really help. He doesn't have a sub and, as much as she wants to, Alyssa's not sure she can look after him along with her schoolwork. She's going to call Marcy's parents, and when they come we're going to tell them what happened, and show them her letter. They'll probably agree to look after him.'

'Look after the son of their dead daughter,' The girl summarised, 'that sounds kinda... sad.'

'It is. But even if they can't have her back, they can still fulfill her last wish for him to have somewhere safe to grow up and to be given the same quality of life she had. It was very mature – and motherly – of her to want that for her child and think far enough ahead to ask her friend to arrange it.'

'The best.'

'Yeah. Which is all we want for you,' he added. 'And I'm ready to do whatever I have to to let you have that.'

Stephanie smiled. _He really cares about me. _Maybe things were finally going to start getting a little better.

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**A/N: And they all live happily ever after... lol**

**Okay, that one was particularly Stephanie-centric... check out the title guys, I had to :p**

**So, an epilogue and this will be finished. I could drag it out, but I need to work on some endings too, right? And it's got to stop somewhere – hey, if you're really nice, I might write a sequel set a few years later where Max and Stephanie are CSIs or something :D**

**I got nothing else to say today... too hyper to type fast enough to keep up with my 100mph brain... how about a cookie for anyone who can name all... three (I think) references to the earlier chapters? I'm feeling generous.**

**josie hardy**


	11. Epilogue

Disclaimer; in honour of the end: I don't own any of the CSIs (or Flack). Stephanie's mine, who I've got to admit I'm getting quite attached to, as is her father, Paul, Paul's father, Alyssa, Jennifer (the college isn't mine, I'm pretty sure :D) and anyone else you remember that I dont.

**A/N: here it is, last chapter. Epilogue... same difference. I don't like writing epilogues, in case you mess it up and then you don't have a chance to fix it, but I wanted to write this one so... you'll either like it or think I should have left it out. Hopefully the first one. :D**

**Let me know!**

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Alyssa,

If you're reading this, it means something's probably happened to me. Maybe I've disappeared, maybe I'm dead, but I'm not at the college and a young boy has turned up looking for me. There's something I never told you, that I was never brave enough to say to your face, but I have to tell someone now.

That boy's my son, Max. His father is Paul Jacobs, the guy I met at the law firm internship, remember I was telling you he's a nice guy? Well he was, and we started going out, even though he was older than me, since he seemed decent, but – he started getting violent, and he even raped me. I'm sorry I never told you any of this, but I was too scared and too ashamed to tell anyone, even mom and dad.

I know your studies and your career are important to you, but if you could find somewhere safe for Max to go, I'd be grateful. I trust your judgement, and I know that you can make the right decision. Also, when he's settled, can you tell him about all this? I don't want him to be lied to, I want him to know the truth about what happened to me, and the kind of guy his father is – as soon as he's ready, that is. He's a pretty smart kid, i wouldn't be surprised if he already has some idea what's going on.

If you need any help, or someone to help look after Max until he goes to live somewhere else, contact Detective Josh Connelly at the NYPD, he's helped me a lot and you can trust him. He knows what's been going on, and he'll know who you are – I think you met didn't you?

Alyssa, I apologise for not confiding in you before now, and I hope you can forgive me.

Friends forever,

Marcy

_Enclosed there was another letter, this one addressed to her parents and written with a shakier hand, with some suspicious wetness splattered in parts._

Mom and dad,

I am so sorry to have disappointed you like this. I know you were getting worried about me, but I was too scared to say anything.

I'm not writing this to worry you, but you deserve to know what's been going on, in more detail than Josh or the police can tell you.

It all started when I accepted the internship and Jacobs & Associates. While I was there, I met Mr Jacob's son, Paul, and we became friends and started dating. I told him I wasn't interested in a serious relationship yet, and he said he understood that.

But then he started changing... he got more violent and i found out that his work was suffering because of the friends he had started making, friends that were criminals and were having a negative influence on him. I'm sure it was their idea for him to talk to me and gain my trust – for some reason (I'm sure it's nothing good) they rape women to get them pregnant and then take the baby away or, like me, persuade them to marry them so that the baby will 'have both its parents.'

He got me pregnant, and I married him for my son, Max's, sake. I don't know what went wrong, but when he found out that I was pregnant again (I tried to keep it a secret from him so that I could keep the baby safe) he threatened me. That's why he killed me, because I refused to get rid of it, but how could I? He can't get me pregnant and then tell me when I can and cant have another baby, inappropriate husband or not he should respect that.

I was doing what I thought was right, and... it's going to cost me my life, I know it is. I had no other choice, I was afraid to tell anyone what was going on in case he hurt them, or they did or said something to make it worse – Josh Connelly is a detective in the NYPD who knows some of it, but when he approached me he assured me that he wouldn't do anything I didn't want him to.

Please, don't be angry with him; I asked him not to get involved, but he did help me out when Max was born, and he gave me the name of a doctor to go to to find out whether or not I was pregnant the second time.

Alyssa will be the girl who shows you this letter, she's a good friend of mine from college. I asked her to contact you and to help look after Max for me. Also if someone could talk to Jennifer Philips, my roomate – if she's been questioned by the police I'd like her to know what happened.

Mom, dad, Alyssa, Jennifer... I'm really sorry about all this. Please don't feel bad that you didn't know, or think that I didn't trust you enough to confide in you, this is the first time I'm telling anyone other than Josh, who only knew as much as he did through knowing about other girls like me. This has only happened because I did – as I was taught – what I felt was right, for both me and my baby. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as it could have, which is probably no one's fault but my own for being too afraid to ask for or accept help.

Goodbye,

Marcy

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**A/N: That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it, I had fun writing it :D you guys are great.**

**I'm not going to try and thank everyone individually, but I'm sure you've noticed that I've replied to all your reviews, and you know how grateful I am. I love reading your reviews, and I'm happy that you like it enough to take the time to write it. There are probably areas I could improve on, I know I'm not perfect, but I always try my best to make it fun to read and easy to understand.**

**Anyway... can't wait to hear your overall opinions!**

**Now that I'm done with this, I intend to review at least one story from every reviewer that's posted before I start on a sequel (if I write a sequel, I dont usually, so dont expect one unless you want to give me some ideas to work with. :p Anything else will probably be a separate story)**

**So, before this note becomes longer than the story... **

**Bye and thanx!**


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